Chap. VII. PLATEAU OF MANZANAS. 299 
names I did not learn. These groups are surrounded at 
their base with woods of juniper- trees. At distances the 
rocks rise out of the plain, like steep cliffs out of the sea. 
On the other side rugged declivities descend into deeper 
valleys, which I shall describe further on. 
Our journey across this plateau, which I may call the 
Plateau of Manzanas, took a southerly direction slightly 
deviating to the west. For some distance we proceeded 
along the above-mentioned groups of mountains, until we 
at last turned down into the valley of the Rio Grande, 
through the Pass of Cuarra. From the Canon Blanco we 
had pursued an untrodden route across the prairie, with 
scarcely any waggon-track until we came to a road which, 
leaving Chilili, Manzanas, and other small places at the 
foot of the mountains on the right, leads from Galisteo to 
Cuarra, and, under the Spanish rule, probably led further 
south to the mysterious Gran Quivira. Those places 
appeared situated in a pleasant and sheltered position, 
between the wooded spurs of the mountains, and on clear 
brooks, which, however, soon disappear in the prairie. 
The latter is highest in the north, on the Canon Blanco ; 
it declines to the south, and the road then passes from the 
Jura formation to the new red sandstone. Loose sand 
appears, covered here and there with saline efflorescence, 
and grey Chenopodiacese, together with succulent kali 
plants, succeed in patches. 
The road led past a deep round hole in the sandy 
clay, which was filled with a muddy brackish and stinking 
water. Further on we came to the Ojo de Verendo — the 
"Spring of the Antelopes " — a source of clear and whole- 
some water, rising at the foot, of a limestone bank that covers 
the sand : it collects into a little basin at the side. This 
stratum of limestone extends from the base of the Manzana 
